Chronostasis
by Klowd9
Summary: A semi-true story about the teen who stopped time; No really! I'm just kidding though, this book is about some princess who goes and falls asleep for a hundred years and wears a glass slipper. Or am I? Read the book to find out.


Chronostasis

Prologue-Foreword-Epic-Type-Thing:

"Fringe was an ordinary kid until..."  
How many times have you heard that line in a prologue or a front cover? Too many. Well anyway, Fringe was never an "Ordinary kid". In fact he was always exactly the opposite; But he never knew it. We could go into how his high-school life was tough until he met this hot teenage vampire; but we won't. Because, as you may know- High-school is worse than being Chinese water tortured with hydrochloric acid, while Mike Tyson beat your guts out with brass-knuckles. Of course, it can always get worse. Especially when one week he finds out:  
His dad is a prophet.  
His mom is missing. and all of a sudden-  
He can control time.

You know an ordinary day in the life of a super-powered teen. And what do you do when the tough gets going? You run away, and make some enemies. But when the world's your enemy, nobody's your friend. There's not much to do but run, when you're on the government's most wanted list. But the NSA is the least of his worries. He is going to have to decide who to trust, who to trick, and who to avoid in a world of gray scales. 

I'm just kidding though, this book is about some princess who goes and falls asleep for a hundred years and wears a glass slipper. Or am I? Read the book to find out. Trust me, it'll be one heck of a ride.

Chapter 1: Multidimensional Bullets

Friday the thirteenth, 2014

Two weeks ago, me and my friend were being chased through a mall in Tokyo, at 3:30 in the afternoon by a S.W.A.T. Special Ops. team. There was only one problem (Besides the Special Ops. Team); nothing was moving in the mall, not the light up displays in the toy shop windows, not the digital billboards, not the sample lady in front of the perfume stand. There was even a kid who was up against a wall about to get a fist full of pain from the mall bully, but was frozen in place. It was like time had stopped. I took a quick detour in the direction of the kid.

"What are you doing Fringe? If you didn't realize we've got a Japanese S.W.A.T. team after us, and we have about, oh, I don't know, 5, 4, 3-"

"Just a second Alex!" I moved the terrified looking kid about a foot to the left. Now the "Nerdinator" would get a fist full of "Titanium alloy" when he hit the mall's structural support. I've always had a soft spot for the nerdy.

"-2, 1, 0."

I knocked over a cotton candy stand to hopefully slow things down for the goons following us. If it didn't, I have other ways. We ran through the mall, knocking things over and breaking things left and right, like a bull in a china shop. There was a pedestal in the middle of a department store, which gave me another good idea. Yeah, I know, I'm just full of those. I motioned to Alex to get on the pedestal.

"Follow my lead." I grabbed a jacket and a hat, jumped on the pedestal and we gave our best manikin pose. The goons rushed right past us. An oldie but a goodie. We jumped off, and ran back the way we came. It wouldn't be long before they realized what happened. I was right. CLICK-VROOOOSH! And no, that's not the sound of Superman playing pinball; it's the sound of a quantum mechanically correct multidimensional bullet. No, seriously though. It's actually pretty scary when you think about it; a bullet that creates approximately 32.5 billion nano-scopic black holes creating a mass of anti-hydrogen, stabilizing the air pressure and instantaneously converting it to anti-matter. This causes a Gravity bubble which, while encasing the recipient, enables inter-dimensional transport. While the recipient is within the 4th dimension, The trans-dimensional rift created previously, re-opens, leading to another specific sector of the 3rd dimension at the previously mentioned time, pre-programmed into the multidimensional micro processor, inside the bullet. In other words, you get hit with one of those, you're either dead or instantly teleported to a special cell in a high security government holding facility. Trust me it's not fun getting hit with one of these. And by the way I'm not always this smart. But that's a story for later.

Either way, I don't think these guys really cared. I turned around and held out my right hand, the one with the birthmark on it, and, just then another special bullet came zooming straight at me. The next couple seconds felt like hours. I felt the adrenaline rushing through my body, but not only adrenaline; I felt the physical essence of time flowing through my veins. I stepped forward. I could feel the time being sucked away from around me, and into my body. I had just one thought: Stop. The bullet slowed to a stop.

I picked the bullet up out of mid air. It's target was my heart, it's aim, bull's-eye. If it weren't for the time space continuum, and some "Special" abilities, I would be dead. I turned the bullet around, so that it faced it toward the Special Ops. Team, and focused all of the time essence I had just absorbed, on one thought again. This time it wasn't "Stop", it was "Go" The bullet sped forward, and I don't mean sped like "Bullet" speed, I mean like "Bullet times 10 plus 'The Flash'" speed. The guy didn't even know what hit him. There was just a black flash and he was gone.

Chapter 2: Warning! Radioactive Lamp

China: Secret sector of "Jun University For the Future": 1994

The air was frigid and smelled like chloroform and other toxic, radioactive chemicals.  
"Wei Jun! You Must come see this! The child is beginning to revitalize!" Said the frazzled looking Mandarin professor. A tall, stern looking, Chinese woman and a ten year old boy, dressed in modified radiation suits, came over to the control panel next to the glass isolation chamber.

"Of course he is. Do you think that all of our research, money, excavation and not to mention_, your brother's life_, was for nothing? No. Everything will go according to plan Huang! Unless of course you didn't do your job right, and you know that would be disastrous." She said in perfect English. She tapped the white blade that lay in a sheath on the outside of her suit. This was the magical Katana that her ancestor had used to assassinate a Chinese emperor. It had the power to torture, maim, or kill, through the power of the mind. Not to mention it could give you a nasty cut. Huang looked even more frazzled than before.

"Mother, why are there two children in the chamber, and what is that oil lamp in the middle, with all of the wires and symbols on it?"

"Stupid boy," She Slapped her son across the cheek. Mish Jun flinched, but showed no sign of pain. "Those children are the result of cloning, and Advanced techniques of Cryostasis. The infant, 'Kai' is the original child, and the elder, shriveled, blind, deaf, and paralyzed boy, among other things, is the clone of 'Kai'. We are attempting to revitalize the DNA of the 5 year old clone, by using this magical lamp."

"Mother, there is no such thing as magic. Is there?" Wei Jun, like a lightning bolt, withdrew her Katana and sliced it through the air in a diagonal arc. Huang let out a scream. Wei was at least 20 feet from Huang. Trying to stifle his sobs, leg oozing a dark red fluid at the ankle, he returned to his work. One of the professors feet was lying on the floor, perfectly severed, bleeding on the marble. The boy gasped and averted his eyes.

"Do you not call that magic?"

"No, mother, I call it unnecessary violence! Why did you do that?"

Wei Jun Grasped her son by the shoulders. "It is the way of life. The new way of life! Poor child, you will learn that some day."

"No he will not!" Said Huang, only Huang's voice was oscillating between a woman's voice and his own. His eyes were flickering like fluorescent light bulbs, but they were neon blue with white symbols cycling past where his pupils would be, like a sideways slot machine. These symbols would be the ancient writing of the Persians. Huang's foot was no longer on the marble, miraculously it had healed.

"I am Solara." The new Huang said. "The genie of the lamp, of my master Ala-A-Din, whom you might call 'Aladdin', Son of Mustapha. You will stop this revitalization process immediately Wei Ming Jun."

"So the genie of the famous lamp is not dead." She said seemingly unfazed by the spirit. "Why would you inhabit such a lowly Quantum Mechanics Professor, and not the ruler of a new world?"

"Huang was not as loyal as you think him to be. After you murdered his brother, he was able to reach the fourth dimension, he brought me back to the third dimension, and although I may not be four dimensional anymore, I can still bring to use some of the advantages of the fourth dimension." Solara snapped her fingers and Wei Jun instantaneously dropped to her knees and started sobbing hysterically. "Stop this Cruelty and I shall Take pity on you."

Wei, still crying, shook her head, "No."

"This child was not meant to be cloned; in fact, he was not meant to be born for years." Just as quickly as she had begun sobbing, she began laughing hilariously, tears still wet on her face. "Now, what will it be death by sorrow or by insanity, although I believe it may be too late for the latter."

Solara snapped her fingers again. She stopped laughing. Gasping for breath, she now knew, this was a force to be reckoned with.

"M-mother are you alright?" Said Mish, still not sure of what he was seeing. He loved his mother and did not like the new Huang hurting his mother. Mish, however, Did not know how many lives his mother had taken unnecessarily. Mish was sad.

"Poor Mish," Solara said. "You do not know your true mother, you need to see her for who she is." Mish suddenly found himself watching a barrage of scenes from his mother's life, the people whose lives she had affected, and those who had affected Wei. He saw the assassination of an emperor, the murder of a sister, the maiming of all who challenged Wei, the murder of Huang's brother at the excavation site of the lamp, and worst of all the death of his father at a lab accident in Tokyo. All of this had happened within a fraction of a second. "No. NO. NO! It's not true, Is it mother?- I-i-is It?"

His mother just hung her head. Not in shame. In pure Insanity. Laughing, cackling, she said:  
"It is. It IS. IT. IS. OVER! Mish. Y-you are- j-just like me."  
The boy seemed to have suddenly matured and become a man.

Chapter 3: The Seventh

Rural New York: The Quantum's house, May 20, 2013

I think I'd better give you a little background after dumping all of that on you. I guess you could call me "Number 7" but that brings back, well... painful memories. I was the lucky charm for my dad, for some reason, (Insanity I think) my dad would always tell my mom that I was the "Seventh" whatever that meant. He always had time for me, and never punished me when I didn't need it. Mom, well she was like perfect times two. She always made me cookies after school and told me how much she loved me when she tucked me in at night, checked for monsters under the bed, and she always knew just what to do to cheer me up. The list goes on and on. They were poster parents. But on the day she didn't come back... well, it was like there was an inner demon in dad's body just waiting to come out. I was turning 16 that day. She left to the store like every other one of my birthdays. She was going to get my cake although she always told me with a smile on her face that "It's just for some groceries." She didn't smile when she said it this time. She never came back. It was almost like dad knew that she wasn't coming back. He acted like I had done something very, very, wrong. Though I didn't know it- I had. He said he was thirsty and that he would be back later. I can remember the lights, flashing red and blue. The sirens blared, they brought my dad inside, and I could smell the liquor on his breath. I innocently asked the younger officer what had happened, He just said, with a puzzled look on his face:

"I'm not quite sure."

They said that "You'd better come with us, son."  
But before I left, my dad's eyes flickered like fluorescent lights and started glowing purple. Then my dad whispered something barely understandable into my ear:

_**"You are the dawn of the dimension.  
You are the brush in the painter's hand.  
You are the beginning of the end.  
You will be a pawn to the king.  
You are the spiral in the cone.  
You are the Seventh." **_

He said this to me as he looked toward the smiling picture of mom, on the wall. How ironic, that I would never see my mother again. His voice got louder and more sane sounding. He was repeating the riddle. Soon, he was yelling it like a lunatic. This was about the time the police tazed my dad, for some reason or another, they missed and hit the picture, shattering the glass. That made me angrier than "The Hulk." I ran over to my dad and tried to give him a hug, but they pulled me back. That was about the time that the "Birthmark" came. The A purple line began snaking down my arm. It began forming shapes. They looked like the numbers on a digital clock, but they were fluorescent purple. Now they started moving; counting down. "13:00, 12:00, 11:00, 10:00, 9:00, 8:00, 7:00" They stopped and the purple dulled to a dark sepia-tone.

I started fighting like a WWF lightweight wrestler, only not. Suddenly my eyes started burning and I saw a bright flash. When it faded, I found myself watching what looked like samurai sparring, but with no weapons. They were only wearing what looked like a loin cloth they kept reaching for the neck or chest of the other with their fingertips. Their reflexes were like snakes striking. Another bright flash and I was back. I then realized that I knew every pressure point that there was to know on the human body. I turned and tapped a few spots on both officers necks, chests and inner arms. I had temporarily paralyzed each officer.

Without hesitation, I hugged my dad, and ran away.

Chapter 4: Super Powered Alley Cat

Dawn: Downtown New York

After that, I found myself running towards nowhere, and fast. I didn't want to abandon my dad, but I knew that if I stayed there, something bad would have happened. I didn't know what, but I didn't want to find out. If I had paid attention to my surroundings while I was running, I would have realized that it was early morning. I couldn't quite tell why, but I took all of the back roads. I came to a point where I had no choice but to take a main road. I knew I was going fast, but not how fast, until I ran past an N.Y.P.D patrol car; Man I'd seen enough of those for one day. Anyway, the patrol car started following me. I realized that being brought "Downtown" might not be the best option at this point, considering that my dad was just arrested for drinking and driving. I ran faster. The officer was gaining on me, so I decided to take a detour down an alley. A man dressed in ragged clothes wearing a backpack, jumped out from behind a dumpster with a gleaming white blade. The last thought I had was

"This can't be good."

Apparently the cop saw me dodge down the alley. He slowed down before the turn and blocked off the entrance to the alley. I told the man that I couldn't get caught right now, and that he had to get me out of this situation without the police involved. The man gave me a long hard stare. The cop was getting out of the car and walking around to the alley. The man whispered to me to:

"Get behind the dumpster"

I did as I was told, because, after all, "Juvi' Hall" doesn't rhyme with "Freedom". I looked back and saw the man disappear into thin air, like dust blowing into the wind. Just before his head disappeared, He winked at me and smiled. I smiled back from behind the dumpster. The officer was walking down the alleyway, inspecting and expecting everything. He must have been a rookie, because his hand was on his gun shaking. The Man from the alley re-materialized behind the cop, and tapped him on the shoulder. The cop's gun was out of its holster and the safety was already off. Before the man could say anything, a loud gunshot rang out. The man's hand was on his shoulder, face white, blood was seeping through his fingers.

I stifled a cry. The cop realized what he had done and was already carrying the man to the back seat of the patrol car. As I saw them drive off, I whispered the words,  
"Thank You."

"What for?" Said a voice from behind me. It was the man. He wasn't bleeding or hurt at all.

"Constantine's the name. Saving children, running from cops, for as of yet, undisclosed reasons, is the game,"

He put a hand for me to shake out. I took it, still not quite sure what to think.  
I felt a jolt of electricity flow through me when I grasped his hand. My eyes were fuzzy now, I couldn't move. I was paralyzed and passing out. The last thing I heard was:

"and You've got some major explaining to do."

Chapter 5: Training With Constantine

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!"

"Sleeping Beauty" was just waking up and wasn't feeling so beautiful. Then I remembered. The man was sitting across from me, and was drinking from a tin cup with some strange looking meat roasting over a makeshift fire. There was something strange about this guy, and I didn't like it. I mean really, what wouldn't you like about a guy who knocked you out, kidnapped you, and dropped you off in the middle of nowhere?  
"I'm Starving! Gimme' some of that meat!"  
Was the first thing that came to mind. But instead I said:  
"I'm Starving! Can I please have some food? I mean if you didn't drug it of course. By the way what is your name?"

"Yes you may have some food, and No. It's not drugged. My name doesn't matter and I did this to you because, as you may have noticed; I'm no ordinary "Bum", and you're no ordinary teenager. Explain." He said this as if nothing had ever happened.

I thought about running away, but I still had a lot of questions for this man, not to mention that he would probably just pop up in front of me once I got fifteen feet away.

"Where are we?" I said.

"The rainforest."

"No, Duh." I said. There were massive, towering tropical trees and lots of vines and logs covered in moss. I was just now realizing how hot it was in the jungle.

"How the heck did we get from downtown New York to- Wherever we are?"

"You look thirsty. Do you want something to drink?" He stated this, oblivious to my previous question.

"Yeah right! A drink from some stranger, who conned a cop, and knocked out an innocent kid. I'm not even hungry anymore."  
Of course I was starved, but I didn't want to take any chances until I had more info.

"Well, you sure didn't look very innocent, now like I said before; Explain."

Feeling the stress of the past- well I wasn't sure how long it had been since I was so rudely knocked unconscious. Anyway- I told him about everything that had happened previously. He didn't make any sign of emotion; Not pity, sadness, or concern of any type, just a straight face. Until I told him about the "Birthmark". When he heard me describe it, he looked up from his tin mug, and for half an instant I could have sworn, I saw pure shock in his expression. I asked him,

"Are you okay?"

He only replied with a

"Yes. Go on."

I kept talking.

"And now I'm here, In the middle of a makeshift camp with an insane kidnapper!"

He seemed mad now.

"Let's get this straight, I did not kidnap you!"

"Yeah, well what do you call this?"

"I call it helping a kid, who should probably be in Juvenile Hall right now- get away from the police!"

I let out a scream of frustration.

"I'm leaving. I don't care who you are or what you want."

I started walking, for the second time in a short time, towards nowhere, then that school lesson about the "Vicious-creepy-crawlies" of the jungle came back to me. If there was one thing I hated more than strangers in the rainforest, it was spiders. I turned back towards the makeshift campsite, cheeks red with embarrassment. Constantine smiled.

He told me "I'll make you a deal. I'll get you out of here if you listen to, and do what I say."

"Done!" Like I had a choice. Besides, all I had to do was sit for a minute, and listen to what he had to say.

"I wasn't done talking. You also have to stay and train with me."

"Train?"

He smiled.  
I sat down and gorged myself on a meal of- well I still don't know what it was.

Chapter 6: Hardcore Parkour

The Jungle: Five Days Later

Ever heard of parkour? Well if you have, you're doing better than I did. For those of you who don't know what this "Parkour" is, it's just a bunch of running up walls around jumping off of buildings into never-ending nothingness, and then grabbing on to the edge of a slightly lower, nearby skyscraper, that's all. Not to mention those who have aeroacrophobia (The fear of really, really, tall open spaces), like me, shouldn't try this. If I ever wanted to get out of this stupid jungle, I had to learn.

"Now, I want you to Jump."

We had been training for five days now. I now had to jump out of what seemed like the top of a Redwood Forest Sequoia. We were in the jungle tree canopy, on a branch that was larger than a car, in a tree at least 750 feet taller than the rest. Not fun.

"Now why the heck would I want to do that? I wouldn't even be up here if it weren't for your stupid powers."

"You'll do it for two reasons: I'm going to do it, and you're not getting down any other way. By the way, if my powers are so stupid, how come you can't move right about, say... -Now."

I tried to move. I couldn't. My whole body was tense. I could only do one thing... PANIC! What if there was a gust of wind. At this altitude that would knock me straight off of the branch. And- Of course he could control the wind. I began to fall to my death. I felt a hand grab me by the shirt collar as I was leaning over, looking into the never-ending nothingness.

"Now, are you going to jump or not? If not, I can just let go."

I felt my body grow less and less tense I mumbled, with my tongue numb and my teeth clenched:  
"I'll jmp! I'll JEMP! JST BRNG ME BACK!"  
"Good Choice," He said. "But I don't think I will." And he let go.

I had seen this coming, and being the insanely ingenious person I am, (Or maybe just the "Insane" part) I began to map out my course of action. I noticed a bunch of vines below the branch, but there were no branches below that. That's as far as I got planning. I fell. I was already leaning forward, so I just did a front flip, grabbed the vine and twisted hands then I swung a couple times, to gain momentum. Before I knew it I was flying back towards the top of the branch toward Constantine, who was still looking after the non-existent me. My feet jammed into his back, he yelled, fell forward and disappeared. Now I could tell all of my friends that I drop kicked my teacher. I was now standing on the branch and found myself saying:

"Never underestimate your opponent."

I heard a voice saying back:

"No kidding!"

I looked down and saw him swinging on the vine below.

"Race you to the Ground!" He challenged.

Chapter 7: Abilities

Next thing I knew, I was swinging next to Constantine, on the vine below the branch. I remember my hands started to sweat, and I knew that if I was going to beat him to the ground, which was all that mattered now, I had to jump. We both jumped. You know that feeling you get when you go on a roller coaster, the one where your stomach is where your heart is supposed to be. Well imagine that multiplied by 14.26. That's what it feels like to free fall 1500 feet. Then I realized, I was doing exactly that, I was free falling. Then my eyes started burning again, just like when the police arrested my dad. I found myself watching a mentally projected video of some people skydiving. I could also hear what sounded like a guy from a really old infomercial advertising "The brand new cordless phone!" The man was describing the proper technique for free-falling if your parachute didn't open. They stopped burning. I saw a flock of seagulls. I took a mental photo of the flock. I forgot to mention I have a photographic memory. If I see something I think I should remember, I blink and, like a camera- It's imprinted as a photo in my brain. I wanted to remember the direction the seagulls were going in. It was spring, so they must have been going back north for the summer. Now I had a mental compass, and I knew that I wasn't too far away from some type of body of water. That was about when I realized that I was in perfect skydiving form. I thought,

"Hey, why not?" I started to sing.  
"I believe I can fly! I believe I can touch the sky!"  
Then I realized that Constantine was right next to me now. He yelled:  
"Cut that racket out!"

I smiled for the first time in a week, and he just smirked.

And almost as if it was responding to my happiness, my birthmark began to glow again.  
Great. This was exactly what I needed. More unknown. My hand started to emanate something that I experienced everyday, but always took for granted. It was like filtered and pure- Gravity. The ground was approaching much more rapidly than is was supposed to. I decided to do what any normal person would do when facing immanent doom. I began to panic.  
I called to Constantine. He didn't respond. Then I realized that he had lost his skydiving form, and looked like a rag doll in a tornado. He was falling faster and faster. He was unconscious. I began to, well I guess you could call it swimming, towards Constantine. It didn't work. It was like trying to walk in place while standing in a pool of Jell-O. My hand now felt like an anvil, so I used it to my advantage. A tucked my arms to my sides, straightened my legs let gravity do the rest.

As I dove, I realized something different about myself. I was no longer the "Precious little boy" that my mom had always referred to me as. "You'll always be my little boy, and I'll always love you." She said as she smiled at me. It was a common phrase for my ears. She would always tell me that whenever I said there were monsters under my bed when I was younger. Or when I ran into Frank, the school bully. I wanted to cry- but the air rushing past my face dried up any tears that would have condensed. Then I realized- I was still falling.

Think for just a second about seagulls. How the are able to snag a fish out of the ocean in a fraction of a second, their razor sharp beaks snapping the head off. Now imagine possessed seagulls tearing at your flesh, pecking your eyes out and dashing your brains out on the rocky cliff. Well stop imagining now. A flock of them were coming right at me.

In other news, Constantine looked like he was about to lose a limb. He was tilting forward, if that happened he would fall faster than a rock, and die once he hit the jungle canopy. I reached him just in time. I flattened him back out onto his stomach. Then the whole birthmark thing started again. I turned my palm towards my face being careful not to let go of Constantine. It felt like my arm was about to break into a million pieces, never to be recovered. You know how they say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die- They're wrong. It was more like a slow motion, black and white movie, but it happened within the course of .77 seconds. Memories of my dad, police, and all the "Seventh" junk came flooding back. Anyway, After that, I officially decided that something weird was going on. I thought about letting Constantine fall to his death, but if I did it would mean I wouldn't be able to get out of this nightmare of a jungle, I would be charged with murder, and I had questions that needed answering. Before I could "Officially decide" anything else I saw the demonic birds coming at us again. I had a wild idea. I had read about superheroes in all the comic books, why not in real life? Why-not-me? I pointed my hand at the flock and I had one thought:

"This is insane."

I felt the stress of the events of the past week fade away and I heard a voice groaning:

"Concentrate."  
"Focus."

I did what Constantine said. This time the "Clock" on the birthmark started to count up, cycling faster than a crazy slot machine. Then they started to slow down, until it started to shudder. It was like it was trying to go slower than when it was stopped. Then it literally began to shatter. The birthmark shattered like when I broke Old Widow Watkin's window with the baseball. The pieces began to multiply and form a mini vortex, with the axis on the palm of my hand. The gravity tornado grew to eventually encompass my entire body. The vortex was speeding up exponentially. I didn't feel the falling, pulling sensation I felt while I was, well, falling. I felt the gravitational pull not only reverse, but it created a bubble of calm. I was in the eye of a storm that I had created. I wished I could have stayed in that bubble of calm forever; It was like a portal into Eden. I could hear a distant voice. Like I eavesdropping on an under-water conversation. It went like this:  
"He will be the one. He will not know it- But he will be."

"Never! That peasant descendant of Ala-A-Din will never be the Wish Granter!"

"That is all too bad for you. He is already. I pity you and the entire Black Lamp Clan. For you, them, and all- will die at the hand of the Wish Granter."

The first voice sounded vaguely familiar. Feminine, yet bold and determined. The second voice I didn't recognize, but it didn't matter. The voices faded. After that, the pieces burst into dust particles and the vortex was vacuumed back into my palm.

I could feel the power inside of me, enough to last all of New York a month.  
I thought of my dad. I screamed in anguish.  
All that power. I channeled the power at the flock, and released it.  
The gulls halted.  
They were now less than 100 feet away from Constantine and me.

Not only the gull's stopped, but the breeze and the encroaching ground and time in general, time had been paralyzed.

Then everything, and I mean everything began to flicker. Sort of like a computer screen that began to die.

All of my surroundings gave way, and an obscure, control room appeared.  
Of course I had to be dreaming. The entire thing had been a dream. My life had been a dream, I would wake up in my bed in just a minute. Any minute now, I would hear my mom calling for me to "Wake up sleepy head. It's your birthday!" I never heard her call.  
And of course-

-I fainted.  
If that's possible in a dream. I'll never know.

Chapter 8: Project 7

China: Secret sector of "Jun University For the Future": 1994

Wei Jun was on her feet again now, but was still as insane as ever. The genie of the lamp, Solara, had left Huang's body now, and was standing solitary by the complex, control panel that activated the revitalization process. She was floating on an invisible cloud of air. She was semi-transparent, but her whole body was fluorescent purple with strange, ancient runes all over her long flowing cloak. She had almost fiber optic hair, but the most noticeable feature about her was her eyes. They were like miniature suns, still glowing purple and flickering strange symbols. Everywhere she walked, still on the pillow of air, flowers sprouted up out of the solid, sterile, concrete slab that was the floor of the lab. Huang was now conscious, and working feverishly at the control panel, the whole time, never taking his eyes off the digital clock that lay, embedded in his workstation. It had a purple display but it was stuck on one date, one time, "May 20, 1998".

"Wei Jun," Solara said. "You have chosen your fate. To die the death of an immortal."

"That is not possible," Wei Jun cackled. "An immortal cannot die."

"They may not die physically, but emotionally, that is another story. An when an immortal is created, they are cursed not only with a never ending life, but an eternal memory as well. That way they see every single consequence of their actions, and that will be torture for you. Insanity can only last so long."


End file.
